CH 51.1

Emma nodded. “That’s right. Can you get it?”

“Luphenyl is mostly imported, so we don’t have it in stock at the moment,” then the clerk added, “And as you know… the situation outside the country is not very good right now, but we’ll try.”

“Then, please.”

After a satisfying shopping spree, they returned to the Berne estate. Emma glanced at the mountain of packed boxes and carefully asked Evelyn, “Is there any space left in the mansion?”

“There’s a lot of space left,” Evelyn spoke brightly, as if she had been waiting for Emma’s question. “There are only three family members in this big place. You can use another guest room next to me, how about it?”

Evelyn willingly made the offer and tried to find out what Emma was thinking. She must have really liked the medicine for the menstruation pain that she gave her last time. Although Emma was neither a therapist nor a doctor, it seemed that she had a firm belief that she would cure the Baroness. Emma similarly wanted to do her best.

“Since we are going to make medicine indoors, it will smell bad. It would be nice to have a space where people don’t normally come and go,” Emma softly said.

Evelyn perked up. “Then, which one do you prefer, the basement or the attic?” she said.

“Do they both have windows? Ventilation is important.”

“Of course. The attic is all windows and the basement has windows toward the ceiling.”

“Then a basement would be better. Because it’ll be easier to move around.”

Emma also was also afraid that if she turned on the burner on the upper floor, a fire would occur or a bad smell would prevail. So when the place was decided, the servants diligently carried the boxes to the basement.

When Emma dismantled the box on the spot, got a desk and chair placed inside, the small simple dispensing room was completed. Emma recalled a memory and remembered the standard way of making medicines, and began to sort the piles of various herbs first.

‘Pre-processing comes first.’  Even a long process starts with one step; this first step was important in making medicine as well. If herbs are used as they are, it is difficult to obtain the desired medicinal effect. So, she had to go through a complicated and difficult pre-processing called ‘legislation’, but before that, she had to go through cleaning them first.

“Can you get me some water?” she asked.

“Of course.”

The servant immediately prepared water and a basin for her. Emma started ‘legislation’ after cleaning herbs. According to the properties of numerous medicinal herbs, after steaming, cutting, crushing, drying and roasting, it should be placed in an extractor and distiller to extract the active ingredients, then placed in a distributor and extrude, and mixed again several times.

It was only after spending a full night in the dispensary that she was able to attain a highly-concentrated, red potion resembling blood. Finally, she poured the concoction into a medicine bottle. It was a special medicine for fever and lungs and was an exclusive recipe of ‘Hermans’. Emma, who added honey and sugar to make it easier for patients to drink, scooped out a spoonful of thick red syrup and tasted it first.

“Uh.” The bitter taste combined with the sweet taste did not stimulate the taste buds. Nevertheless, the taste was acceptable. ‘I made it well!’ Emma was proud of herself when she saw the exact replica of her father’s formula. Emma, who poured the rest of the medicine into the bottle, soon found Lady Evelyn.

“Here,” she said, giving the red bottle to Evelyn.

“Oh, what is this?” Evelyn’s eyes opened wide as she examined the scarlet bottle.

“I made it because I thought it would help the baroness.”

“Oh… how attentive and sweet of you.” Lady Evelyn had already experienced the efficacy of the potion Emma had prepared, so she took the bottle without much doubt. “I hope that Grandma will get better with Miss Herman’s sincerity.”

“I’m sure it’ll help. She can drink it three times a day after meals,” Emma said.

Emma then locked herself back in the dispensary. The underground laboratory was complete with all the tools, gadgets and facilities she needed, so she lost track of time. Emma thought of Irvan from time to time, and trimmed and processed medicinal herbs that would be useful or necessary for him in the future. At the same time, she extracted and stored ingredients that were likely to be of use someday.

She spent her days like that. Lady Evelyn came to the basement, worried that  Emma was spending all her time there minus the basic necessities such as sleeping and eating. She also reported that the baroness’ condition had improved significantly after taking the medicine, then chatted for a while to see what Emma was doing. However, she quickly became bored because she did not know exactly what Emma was doing.

“What is this?” Evelyn asked.

“It’s a distiller,” Emma answered.

“The boiling looks ominous!”

“That’s because it’s Cutalin.”

“Cutalin…?”

“Yes. It is one of the medicinal herbs used for neuralgia, and its efficacy changes slightly when refined.”

“How?”

“That’s…”

Emma patiently explained the process every time she was asked a question, but Evelyn kept yawning, thinking that such trivial things were complicated and bothersome. She slowly stopped visiting, until one day,

“Emma! Emma!” Evelyn, with her face deadly pale, hurried to the basement.

“What’s the matter?” Seeing Evelyn calling out her name urgently while forgetting her usual favorite moniker, ‘Miss Herman,‘ it seemed to be something serious.

“Grandma, uh, grandmother-” Evelyn gibbered, unable to speak while crying. She looked so frightened and disconcerted that Emma left the basement and headed for Baroness Berne’s bedroom herself. The quiet hallways were gloomy, and the maids and attendants with dark complexions were anxiously standing in front of the door.

Emma turned to the butler. “What’s the matter?” she asked.

“Madam’s condition suddenly worsened,” the butler quickly responded in a cold sweat.